Innovation and technology will be critical to Peru’s future development, said public and private-sector leaders at AS/COA’s annual conference in Lima. Peru’s vice minister for communications noted that the government is investing $2.3 billion to bring the country’s fiber-optic network coverage up to 54,000 kilometers by 2017, of which the government itself will lay 29,000 kilometers. In a panel on technology and social inclusion, panelists all stressed the need to reach young Peruvians through schools, citing a goal to increase the rate of Internet access at Peru’s 35,000 schools outside Lima up from 8 percent to 40.